WASHINGTON, April 12 (UPI) -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, in Washington for a nuclear weapons summit, said Monday his country will get rid of all its highly enriched uranium.
Yanukovych said after meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama his country's goal would be accomplished by 2012 when the next nuclear security summit is to be held. He said Ukraine intends to remove a substantial part of its uranium stocks this year.
Obama praised Ukraine's decision as a historic step, and the United States will provide necessary technical and financial assistance, the White House said in a statement.
Ukraine agreed in 1994 to give up its former Soviet nuclear warheads. In return, Russia extracted uranium from the warheads and returned it to Ukraine.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the Ukraine commitment "is something that the United States has tried to make happen for more than 10 years," The New York Times reported. "The material is enough to construct several nuclear weapons," he said.
Yanukovych also offered Obama his congratulations on the signing of the new START treaty with Russia, which calls for reducing the nuclear arsenal in those countries.
The two countries also will look into ways to help Ukraine develop its non-military nuclear energy capabilities.
The two leaders also agreed to cooperate on nuclear safety issues, including efforts to safeguard the Chernobyl nuclear reactor site where a deadly radiation leak accident occurred in 1986. The United States, which has contributed almost $250 million to this effort, reaffirmed its commitment to support Ukraine and others in restoring the Chernobyl site to a safe condition.
